Why the regime's new push in the city could signal the end for the moderate opposition.
On Monday, Syrian regime forces made headway against opposition forces in neighborhoods around Aleppo, part of a new siege campaign in the country's second-largest city. The impact on the opposition could be huge: if they lose Aleppo, Assad will have control of all four major Syrian cities.
The government has been barrel bombing opposition-held areas of the city since December, creating one of the largest refugee streams seen since the beginning of the conflict. Now, after months of stalemate, it wants to put on enough pressure to finally push rebels out of the city and into rural areas of Idlib and Aleppo provinces.
We asked Joshua Landis, the editor of Syria Comment and director of the Center for Middle East Studies at Oklahoma University, to weigh in on whether Assad's siege will mean the end of the moderate opposition.
http://www.syriadeeply.org/articles/2014/07/5776/assads-siege-aleppo-poised-knock-rebel-forces/